The same force, secondly, brings to other peoples and
individuals a measure of illumination - an illumination which reveals the underlying
synthesis, which indicates the dualism which must finally vanish and which indicates also
the secret of right human relations. One reaction produces the onward rush of the
materialistic systems of life, thought and desire, [378] dashing blindly forward in the
force of their own momentum and producing a stage of powerful expression and active
movement; the other demonstrates in a far vision of possibility and a steady movement
forward in spite of the immediate dangers and difficulties.

The Bull, therefore, in
expression is dual. Today we see the willful dash of the lower nature of humanity,
embodied in the forces of aggression, and the purposeful progress of those people and
peoples who seek, even if without full understanding, to work out the plans of God,
proceeding in spite of each other. That is as far as the evolutionary processes have yet
taken humanity and hence the critical situation now to be found. The question is: Will the
Bull of desire or the Bull of divine illumined expression succeed?

This sign is an earth sign and hence the working out of the Plan or the fulfilment of
desire must be carried out upon the outer plane of living. This will or desire must
express itself in the plane of outer living and in the environment whether it is the
environment of an individual man, of a nation or of a group of nations.

As you know, astrologers have long pointed out that this sign concerns the physical
body among other factors, and the health or wholeness of the body is closely connected
with the expression of past desire or of present idealism and this is a point to be borne
in mind. Today, the cure or care of the physical body is of paramount importance to
practically everybody and the thoughts of all peoples without exception, whether at war or
not, are turned that way. The emphasis upon the wholeness of the individual
physical life is symbolic of the outer body of humanity, viewing all human beings as a
unit.

Again, gold is the symbol which today governs man's desires whether national, economic
or religious; it is connected [379] with this sign and this is one of the indications that
today the conflict in the world economic situation is based upon the upwelling of desire.
In an esoteric way, therefore - quoting from a very ancient book of prophecy:

"The
golden eye of Taurus points the way to those who likewise see. That which is gold will
some day, too, respond, passing from East to West in that dire time when the urge to
gather gold shall rule the lower half (i.e., the personality aspect of men and of nations
- A.A.B.). The search for gold, the search for golden light divine, directs the Bull of
Life, the Bull of Form. These two must meet; and meeting, clash. Thus vanishes the
gold..."

The earthly
triplicity of Capricorn, Virgo and Taurus form a triangle of material expression which is
of profound interest as one studies it either from the angle of the ordinary round of the
zodiac, followed by average and undeveloped humanity, or from the angle of the disciple
wherein the path of zodiacal progress is reversed.

In the first case, Capricorn marks the point of greatest density and concrete
expression and shows the life divine as deeply imbedded in substance. This is the true
state of death as far as the life is concerned; it is captivity in form. In Virgo,
however, that life makes its inner pressure felt and the movement - faint yet real - of
the hidden life begins to pulsate within the concrete form, producing in Taurus that
reaction to desire and that onward rush and powerful movement which distinguishes the
evolutionary progress of the individual, working under the impulse of desire. Forget not,
that the first thrill or response of the Christ life is to the pull, urge or suggestion of
the form nature wherein it finds [380] itself. Then later, when all the resources of the
form nature (drawn out through desire), are exhausted and the Christ life is exceedingly
strong and ready to reveal itself through the death of the Mother, the form, then and not
till then is the progress of the wheel arrested and "revolution" takes place
with the life aspect reversing itself upon the wheel. Then the disciple (an expression of
the Christ life in its early manifested stages), having transmuted desire into
aspiration, begins his career - objectively and in full consciousness in the sign Taurus
and "on the wings of aspiration" proceeds towards Virgo and "being both the
Mother and the Child enters into the House of Labor." From that house, the disciple
in due time arrives at Capricorn where he finally subdues matter, form or concrete
expression to divine uses and purposes, and thus demonstrates the triumph and the potency
of the Christ life.

The secret
of the Triangles or triplicities in their fourfold expression is as yet an unexplored
aspect of astrological research and one with which we will later concern ourselves.

This sign Taurus is, therefore, the eleventh sign upon the ordinary wheel of exoteric
emphasis and life, preceding each new cycle of incarnated expression. As the individual
descends into incarnation and when he takes an astral shell, he definitely comes into a
Taurian cycle, for it is desire which impels to rebirth and it takes the potency of Taurus
to bring this about. As this subject concerns the astrology of the astral vehicle we will
not deal with it further for that is a phase of research for which humanity is not yet
ready.